A Marine intelligence officer accused of trying to cover up the killings of 24 Iraqis appeared stunned at first when a jury acquitted him of the charges.

For more than two years, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson had been under suspicion, accused of ordering the destruction of evidence in the biggest U.S. criminal case involving Iraqi deaths to come out of the war.

"I didn't really believe it was going to end until they said not guilty," Grayson said in his first public comments following the verdict. "The case was so volatile, you didn't know which way it was going to go."

Grayson had always maintained his innocence. On Wednesday, a military jury agreed with him.

Cheers erupted as the jury found him not guilty of ordering a sergeant to delete photographs of the bodies from a digital camera and laptop computer.

Early in the investigations, based upon unknown evidence, Democratic Rep. John Murtha (PA) stated that "there was no firefight, there was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood."

Barack Obama, asked about Murtha's charge by Alan Colmes in June of 2006, stated, "I would never second guess John Murtha... I think he's somebody who knows of which he speaks."

Murtha's "in cold blood" statement and the Democratic Presidential nominee's unquestioning acceptance came seven months before the military charged eight Marines with various offenses in December of 2006. Charges against five of the eight Marines have since be dropped for lack of evidence, and in the first of three scheduled trials, Grayson has been acquitted. It remains to be seen if Rep. Murtha or Senator Obama will offer Lt. Grayson an apology, cold-blooded, or otherwise.

Of the two cases remaining, only Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich faces charges directly related to the killings. The most serious charges he faces are nine counts of involuntary manslaughter. Curiously, his case has been postponed indefinitely, and was not expected to resume until after both of his military defense attorneys had retired, weakening his defense in a complex case. Late-breaking information from Bruce Kessler of The Democracy Project, who has been covering the Haditha cases in detail, states that Lt. Col. Colby Vokey will delay his retirement again to stay with Wuterich's defense.

Interesting. The media took Murtha's comments and ran with them, essentially finding them guilty before any of them got their day in court.

O.J. didn't do anything either. If they didn't do anything wrong then good for them. You can call me unpatriotic if you want but not everyone who wears the uniform is a hero and a lack of evidence does not prove innocence. I guess all those Guantanimo inmates are innocent too, unless coerced testimony counts as evidence.

I have been visiting this site on and off for a while now and I can say that I finally get it. This is a parody site. No real issues just feigned outrage at trivia.

"...and a lack of evidence does not prove innocence." I pray you're never selected for jury duty.

You're entitled to your opinion regardless of the outcome of the trial. But that's why we don't vote at the polls to acquit or convict people on trial. Unless you were given the power as a juror to make that decision, sitting through the entire trial and following the law to guide your decision, your opinion means nothing in the eyes of the law. Imagine if the jurors based their decision on news accounts, past trials of other people and charged emotions. You think innocent people go to jail and guilty people get set free too often now?

"I guess we should have waited for that innocent until proven guilty theory with those WMDs."There was plenty of probable cause to "make the arrest". The suspect resisted and was taken down by force. In the end, he got convicted of "domestic violence" instead of possession of contraband.

Well of course the solders killed some Iraqi non-combatants. From the accounts I read the non-combatants were killed by grenades used to clear houses of insurgents. However, the question as to whether or not there was a crime committed as defined by military standards is not the act itself, but the reasonable belief of the soldiers at that time and if they followed the rules of engagement.

While this case was about covering up the evidence by an officer not involved in the incident, charges against three solders involved in the incident have been dropped. Of those involved in the incident only squad leader Frank Wuterich is sill facing charges, but now only for manslaughter.

Having already lost one solder during that incident it's clear the solders were under attack and it appears that they followed the same rules of engagement previously used by the Marines in Iraq, thus the dismal of charges. It was the insurgents who disregarded the safety of non-combatants by launching an attack from and near homes occupied by non-combatants. Their tactic was designed to result in the deaths of non-combatants in order to turn the Iraqi people against the U.S. and of course, to help their allies in the U.S. make political headway in undermining U.S. resolve. Convicting solders for doing what they were sent and equipped to do just further undermines the ability of the U.S. to win in Iraq.

I don't think they will have much back - I imagine after killing "10 women and children at point blank range" life becomes difficult. I'd imagine the remaining 2 will do time, as somebody must take the brunt of this tragedy.

Incredible that the leftiest loons here are supporting Murtha, a member of congress, standing up and saying our marines in Haditha are cold blooded murderers, without any investigative evidence or judicial process. The lefties have more sympathy and give the benefit of the doubt to the terrorists before our country and troops. I have said it many times on many posts, the left has always hated the military and always will. ww

"WC, would the story be "trivial" if he or any of the others were found guilty and sent to the gallows?"

I got another what if...what if Murtha had gone to Iraq and had a heart attack. Would that be trivial?

Let's start adding layers and see when the triviality wears off?

The only people who will bring this up in the furture are people who want to point to a democrat and compair them to Murtha. Something like, "He hates the U.S., just like Murtha". Other than that in nobody will mention it.

My point is well documented in this article. What was the point of this article? Was it to post the news that this marine was aquitted? Or was it to have a forum to call Murtha a bad American? An aquital notice would take about two lines and a Murtha bash would take about the same.

Let's see...Murtha calls our troops fighting a war cold blooded murderers, and the MSM picked it up and ran with it and for days we heard about the so called masacre. An article is posted on a CONSERVATIVE blog so far one post on the subject, and a lefty loon thinks we should not question the gross unjust behavior of a congressman. What a pathetic lefty you are WC. Please, go away. You make no sense. You try to defend the clearly indefensible. ww

Kim, I'm pretty sure WorldCitizen is recommending that you cut out two sentences to conform to his estimate of how much should be written, which is two lines. I think it's hurting his eyes to see that a jury disagreed with his verdict. Oh, and could you please remove the quoted sections as well? As a matter of fact, could you just shorten it to a heading only. And change the tone of it too. Something along the lines of, oh, I don't know ... maybe "Murderers Found Innocent!"

The point of the article, WorldCitizen, was to provide a forum for ANY discussion in regards to the topic.

Even yours.

Now say thank you for your freedom of speech - courtesy of the US Military.

WorldCitizen~
Why is it that only those who wear the uniform of the United States military are not PRESUMED innocent until proven guilty? Why are you and other left-wing loons so quick and eager to condemn? Your self-loathing of those who maintain your freedom is...well, loathsome and beyond contempt.

Would the good people of the 12th District of Pennsylvania throw Murtha out on his expansive backside?